Virgin joins the group, Bold 9900 and Torch 9810 available today

After a year of waiting for the new BlackBerry devices to launch, almost every Canadian carrier is coming out swinging today. It’s been such a long road for RIM and hopefully these new devices will spark a burst of energy for the company. Just like Rogers and Bell, Virgin has made the Bold 9900 and Torch 9810 available today, but have the “4G” moniker attached to them. As expected, the price points for the Bold 9900 $599.99 no term and $169.99 on the 3-year/SuperTab. As for the Torch 9810, the 3-year contract is $149.99 and no-contract is $599.99.

Never again will I sign a contract with Virgin. WORST customer service I have ever experienced.

Alex Perrier

Not quite sure about “worst”, but pretty close. Research “CBC Marketplace” and Bell won “Canada’s worst cellphone bill” for two years in a row. Virgin was nominated, but did not win for both years, while Telus (2010) and Rogers (2011) were each nominated once, but again did not win. i’ve had minimal issues with Bell-owned Virgin.

What will happen in 2012? WIND wasn’t perfect, but were rather generous and couldn’t qualify for being the “worst”. Ditto for Mobilicity. Public’s expensive CDMA phones aren’t worth the money for anything data-wise. So perhaps it will be the Big 3 again.

Pukka

Are you serios Virgin has the best customer service, anytime i had a problem with a bill or a question they always fixed it very quickly. I’ve been with them for 3 years now and it’s been great! I’ve had bell, telus and fido in the past and they sucked!

Omar

Everybody tells me that yet I had a problem with my bill month after month and when I would call customer service, they would transfer to the billing department which was never open so then I was told I would receive a phone call which I never did.

I swear I was on the phone with Virgin more than I was with anybody else I know. Ridiculous.

Merry

Why is it limited time for $169.99 on 3 year contract?

Ottawa

argh… no Ottawa Stores have them

Andrew

dang here in waterloo I have 15 bolds and 9 torches

Rich

@Omar: I got one this evening after work on Carling, they had quite a few from what I saw

Potent Potable

4G????? God damn, by 2015 we are going to have BlackBerry Bold 10G.

SWB1983

I thought blackberry wanted to get back in the market, but yet the phones are priced higher than better phones already out. If you choose blackberry, you are only going for BBM. If you want want out of the cave, then go for an Android. I switched from Blackberry to Android in January and have yet to look back. RIM needs to step it up or stop insulting its customers.

barry

that’s funny. I actually picture Android users living in caves, what with no friends and all and only their geeky a*s phone to play with.

… and the list just goes on because the Google website can be accessed by virtually any device. And even if that’s not possible, there are many Jabber/XMPP clients that connect to Google Talk. So practically any web-connected device can use Google Talk.

But BBM? Sorry, gotta own a BlackBerry. Even the “BlackBerry Social” plans come with unlimited Google Talk and IM clients other than BBM. Those “BBM-only” plans means that you’re limited to your BlackBerry clique. BlackBerry devices are expensive. Not fun.

For the record, Google Talk has delivery notifications before BBM even existed. Based on the status (Online, Away…) you can usually tell if someone read your message. Google Talk makes more sense and works on dozens of platforms, rather than just one.

Alex Perrier

“Berry excited”? Isn’t that PC Mobile’s tagline?

SWB1983

If you think android users are in caves. How come it is the number 1 platform in the whole world? I have switched 7 people over to android and not one has a complaint. Stick with you bbm and lack of innovation. If they were serious about being in the marketplace RIM would have affordable costs and not match the price of the superior Galaxy S2 or any other android phone. (HTC Sensation and EVO 3D, LG Optimus 3D and Motorola Atrix and XT860 just to name a few). All are better devices, just need to get out of the blackberry and iOS funk that Canada has been in